


The Threads of Reality

by MelissMySiss



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bipper, Dreams vs. Reality, Gen, Psychosis, Schizophrenia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-21 12:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3692055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelissMySiss/pseuds/MelissMySiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens to the mind after you are thrown out of your body and possessed by a demon? </p><p>Dipper Pines is a boy of 12 and has been through his fair share of life changing events, but demon possession is not one any normal 12 year old should go through. As Dipper deals with the nightmares of what has happened to him he slowly starts to loose his grip on reality. Soon it becomes clear that Dipper has no idea what is actually happening to him and what isn't...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Threads of Reality

**Author's Note:**

> Warning!
> 
> If you haven't seen Not What He Seems, there are some slightly spoilers at the end. Just be forewarned.  
> The violence isn't horribly graphic just thought I would tag that just in case. Enjoy!

For only a boy of 12 Dipper Pines would like to think that he had experienced more traumatic experiences than a man two times or even three times his age. Sure there were regular pre-teen experiences, like having his sister embarrass him in front of his friends, or acting like an idiot in front of Wendy. Those were normal things. But then since this summer started and he and his twin sister had to stay at their great uncle’s mystery shack things had not being going well.

  
At first Dipper thought the mix of thrill and excitement had been enjoyable. He did love searching through the forest on the look for monsters. And he loved the secrets that his mysterious journal had provided him. But ever since the demon triangle Bill Cipher took over Dipper’s body, things had not been the same.

  
Dipper would wake up from nightmares where he was doing some horrendous act to his body. Like throwing himself down stairs, finding knives in the kitchen and stabbing them straight through his chest, or climbing to the roof of the shack and jumping to the oblivion below. These were things that Dipper would never have dreamed of before he was forced out of his body. But since then that was all that filled his dreams. Pain. Pain. And even more pain. And with each night that passed the pain would become more unbearable to watch. In fact when Dipper would jolt awake he would often still feel the sting of what had just happened to him.

  
Last nights nightmare involved Dipper roaming the shack like usual. But instead of going to the kitchen to find a suitable weapon or jumping off the roof again, Dipper or rather Bipper went to the bathroom.

  
Dipper watched the dream unfold as his body stopped in front of the mirror and stared. A smile far to large for his face spread from cheek to cheek and the yellow silted eyes became larger and larger. Then Bipper slammed a fist into the mirror, the mirror cracked and split around where Bipper put his fist. Then Bipper brought his hand back and slammed his fist into the mirror again. And again. And again. Until finally chunks of glass fell into the sink just below the mirror. And blood began to ooze out of Bipper’s knuckles and fell in crimson droplets to the tile below him.

  
Dipper watched horrified as Bipper reached into the sink and pulled out a piece of glass. Bipper looked into the small portion of the reflection he could see, still smiling insanely. Bipper raised up his other arm and set it on the rim of the sink. Then without hesitation he jabbed the glass shard hard into his arm.

  
Dipper wanted to shout to tell the insane triangle to stop, but instead he just watched in terror. Bipper dragged the glass through Dipper’s soft skin slowly carving out several letters. The letters soon made words and soon a sentence was dripping on Dipper’s arm.

  
_Pain is hilarious._

  
Bipper turned, his bloody arm falling lazily from the sink and stared to where Dipper seemed to be watching from. Bipper winked and then with a jolt Dipper was back in the attic of the shack wide awake.

  
Dipper shakily pushed himself up to a seated position. He could feel his heart beating against his ribs and he could hear his pulse in his ears. Dipper wiped a clammy hand over his sweaty forehead and glanced over to his sister. She was still sound asleep her mouth hanging open her snores filling the silence of the night. Waddles was tucked under one of her arms and a pillow or maybe a sweater or it could have been a bag of Doritos was tucked under the other. Dipper shook his head and looked to his own bed sheets.

  
Dipper wished that he could be as carefree as his sister. She seemed to have it so easy. She laughed at everything and somehow managed to make herself smile through even the toughest of times. Sure she was dramatic but she didn’t have to face the same problems that Dipper was at the moment.

  
Carefully Dipper lifted up his arm that was still stinging from the realistic pain from his nightmare. Dipper might have screamed if could. But for some reason the air inside of him got caught somewhere in the back of his throat. Up Dipper’s arm were the same words he had just watched get cut into himself. _Pain is hilarious_.

  
The letters were not bleeding but instead where scarring and hurt to touch as Dipper found as he set a finger on one of the letters. Dipper shook his head. He had to be still dreaming. Quickly he drew back a hand and slapped it across his face. He heard a laugh somewhere in the depths of his mind. He spun around trying to find the source.

  
Dipper looked back to his arm. The words were still there. Did he do that to himself while he was asleep? Or had Bill actually manage to get inside of him again? No. Dipper swore he was not going to let that happen to him ever again.

  
Still Dipper was getting nervous now. Glancing back to his snoring sister Dipper quickly hoped out of bed and padded as quietly as the creaky attic would allow down the stairs and to the bathroom.

  
The bathroom was dark and as Dipper tried the switch but the light would not turn on. Dipper shrugged and continued into the bathroom. He looked to the mirror and nearly fell backwards. The mirror was shattered into pieces. Dipper took a hesitant step forward and instantly regretted it. He felt something burn through his sock. Dipper did fall back this time. He pulled his foot to his face. A shard of glass was cutting through his white sock that was slowly but surely turning a crimson red.

  
Trying to control his shaking hands Dipper pulled the glass out of his foot and tossed it aside. He pressed into his foot wishing that he would just wake up from whatever hell he was experiencing right now. He glanced up to the mirror and noticed something was reflecting out of the few pieces of glass still attached to the wall.

  
Pushing up and avoiding putting weight on his bleeding foot Dipper stood and looked into the mirror. Dipper’s breath got caught somewhere in the back of his throat again. Staring back at him in the few shards of glass that remained where silted yellow eyes.

  
“No,” Dipper mouthed and backed up.

  
The reflection in the mirror grew and spoke, “Would you look at that Pine Tree. Would you look at that.”

  
Dipper closed his eyes and counted to three in his head then looked back to the mirror. It was unchanged the reflection was still there smiling back at him, Dipper felt his heart speed up, “No this isn’t real. You’re not here. This is a dream!”

  
“Don’t you remember reality is an illusion-“ Bill taunted but Dipper cut him off.

  
“No shut up! This isn’t real!” Dipper slowly fell to his knees and felt tears pouring out of his eyes. He listened to the cackling of the demon as he squeezed his hands to his ears. It grew louder and louder until Dipper couldn’t block it out. He felt the words on his arm start to sting and something warm was trailing down his arm.

Then…

  
“Kid?” It was gruff and was a mix of irritation and concern.

  
Dipper jumped up and saw thousands of stars as he had stood to quickly. Dipper was also blinded by the light in the bathroom actually turned on this time. He looked directly into the confused and sleep deprived eyes of his uncle.

  
Dipper put his arm behind his back and spoke awkwardly, “Oh hi Grunkle Stan… I was just…”

  
“Practicing the scene of a soap opera?” Stan asked irritated and stared around the bathroom, he paused on Dipper and eyed him, “What’s behind your back?”

  
Dipper felt his face flush red hot, he stared off to the corner of the room, “Oh nothing… I just, practicing my singing you know… Have to have something for you to and Mabel to make fun of.” Dipper awkwardly coughed and laughed.

  
Grunkle Stan raised an eyebrow, “That’s fine. I love making fun of kids… But you hate when we make fun of you.”

  
Dipper knew that there wasn’t really a way out of this, “Heh… You got me…”

  
“Kid is something wrong?” Stan asked now seeming to get genuinely concerned.

  
“Oh nothing…” Dipper lied and glanced over to the mirror that was no longer broken. Dipper was getting more confused by the second. What was going on?

  
“You know what I don’t have time for this, I have to rob people of their pride and life savings tomorrow!” Stan grumbled and marched up to Dipper. He grabbed his arms and even though Dipper put in all his effort to keep his uncle from finding his scarred arm he was no match. His uncle stared at Dipper’s arms, as did Dipper. Dipper was shocked to see that just like the mirror Dipper’s arms were untouched. No lettering traveled up either one.

  
Stan stared frustrated to Dipper, “Whatever kid. I don’t have time to deal with whatever supernatural curse you think you put on yourself or whatever…” Stan Dropped Dipper’s hands and stormed out of the bathroom.

  
A thought occurred to Dipper quickly he looked to his feet. As he suspected no glass and no blood. He hadn’t stepped on any glass. Then what did he do? What had happened? Another mystery to add to the mountain of mysteries of this town.

~~~

After waking up Grunkle Stan and making him come to the bathroom to see Dipper was fine, Stan had been keeping an annoyingly close watch on the boy. He never sent Dipper anywhere alone and whenever the two were near he would watch his every move. Dipper didn’t mind that much. If there were other people around him he would be able to judge if what was happening around him was real or not.

  
The closer he kept to his friends the closer to reality Dipper felt that he was. Though he still would wake up every night with another nightmare none had been as horrific and realistic as the one in the bathroom. And since that incident every time he woke up from a nightmare he was not covered in the wounds that had been inflected upon him.

  
However, even though Dipper felt he could feel a bit more at ease with Mabel or Soos around him all the time he would still catch the shadow of something that he could never make out. Until one day he saw what was floating not far behind him.

  
“Dudes, check it out,” Soos stated excitedly one morning walking in with what looked like a taco shell holding a burrito.

  
“Wow Soos what is that?” Mabel asked jumping to stand on her chair and lean into the table.

  
“Behold the tacorito! I made it this morning isn’t it genius?” Soos asked grinning to the twins.

  
“Why do you need a burrito inside a taco shell?” Dipper asked.

  
“Dipper why wouldn’t you need a burrito inside a taco shell?” Mable asked leaning over to him.

  
“You got me,” Dipper exhaled sarcastically. Mabel and Soos continued to chat excitedly at the possibilities of what they could do with an invention like the tacorito, or buraco. Dipper pretended to listen but found his head drifting to the side, when something caught his eye.

  
It was the shadow that he had been seeing out of the corner of his eye everyday now since his dream of the bathroom. He had seen the shadow when he went to find McGucket’s memories. Or just the other day when he was hanging out with Wendy’s friends wearing that ridiculous V-neck. It was always just out of the corner of his eye. And when he would turn to look it would be gone.

  
But this time as he stared out of the kitchen through the living room the shadow stayed at the base of the stairs. It was such a familiar outline that Dipper nearly fell out of his chair.

  
Mabel and Soos were already crafting a sign for their food invention that they were convinced they could sell at the shack and Dipper knew they wouldn’t notice if he went off for a second. Dipper didn’t see Stan anywhere either so he was probably ok to go and have a look.

  
Dipper slipped out of his chair and out of the kitchen through the living room to the doorframe just before the stairs. He held his breath. The shadow was still. But he knew who this shadow belonged to. Dipper jumped out and looked at the base of the stairs expecting his target to be right there. But no one. He looked up the stairs and saw a glint of gold round the corner.

  
Hesitantly Dipper looked back into the kitchen, Mabel and Soos still hadn’t noticed his absence. Dipper swallowed and sprinted up the stairs. He turned the corner and watched the gold float into the bathroom. The bathroom. Dipper felt his heart rate pick up. If he wasn’t so damn curious Dipper might have turned around and blamed this all on a trick of light. But Dipper was curious. And he had to know what Bill was up to.

  
Dipper padded slowly to the bathroom and stood with his back to the wall slowly exhaling debating if his curiosity was worth it. He decided it was and jumped into the bathroom. No one was in the bathroom. Of course.

  
Dipper rolled his eyes and was about to walk away when he felt a sharp sting on his arm. Grabbing his arm and gasping Dipper reached for his arm. He felt the familiar scarring and lifted his arm to find the words _Pain is hilarious_ , etched into his skin again.

  
Dipper spun around and looked into the bathroom. It was still empty but it felt colder. Dipper took a hesitant step into the bathroom. Then another. He tried the light switch. Nothing. Dipper wrapped his arms around himself as he felt the temperature slowly drop. The door slammed shut and Dipper ran to it and tugged. The door would not budge.

  
Then it was like Dipper was watching an old movie. Everything around him was black and white. Dipper knew what this meant. He spun around expecting to see the glowing triangle that he knew he followed in here. But again nothing.

  
Dipper took several steps forward and came face to face with the mirror. He squinted at the mirror and raised an eyebrow. He could not see his reflection. How odd? It was like he was staring into a silver lake. It couldn’t produce his reflection.

  
“Hello Pine Tree,” came the loud oh so familiar voice.

  
Dipper spun around expecting to see Bill behind him, but he was not there. Dipper turned back to the silvery mirror and still nothing. Dipper cleared his throat.  
“Where are you? What are you doing?” Dipper knew his voice was shaking but he tried his best to keep it level.

  
He listened to Bill’s laugh before he replied, “Oh kid this is what happens when you are taken for a joy ride with me as your driver. Who knew you might have a negative reaction to how the drive went. Oh well. Your smart I am sure you will get over it.”

  
“How?” Dipper was pleading slightly, “I don’t even know what’s real. I don’t know why I am seeing these things. I don’t know how to make them stop. Everything seems so real and then one little thin will prove it’s not…”

  
Bill laughed again, “You are hopeless Pines. But don’t worry I am sure you will figure it out. Besides how hard is it to tell reality apart from dreams if they are all one in the same really?”

  
Dipper raised an eyebrow, “What?”

  
“Exactly!” Bill shouted and then the room’s color returned. The temperature rose back to normal and the lights turned on. Dipper quickly looked to his arm, the words were gone but somehow he could still feel their sting. He walked to the door and found it opened with ease.

  
Dipper thought to himself as he walked slowly back down the stairs. What did Bill mean? Reality and dreams all being one in the same… It didn’t make sense. But nothing Bill said ever made sense. But Dipper was willing to take on the challenge. He would figure out what Bill meant and put a stop to all of this before it got even more out of hand.

  
Dipper got to the bottom of the stairs and heard Grunkle Stan shouting, “Normally I might think something that stupid might sell in this shack, but I told you to watch Dipper! Who knows what mess that kid got into now!”

  
Dipper was about to round the corner just as his Grunkle exited the living room and ran right into him. Stan had an expression of relief and then it suddenly turned back to anger. He knelt down next to Dipper and grabbed his shoulders.

  
“Where on earth did you go?” Stan growled getting closer and closer to Dipper’s face.

  
Dipper swallowed, “I went to the bathroom, can I do that without supervision?”

  
Stan glanced up the stairs hesitantly to the bathroom then back to Dipper. He stared straight into Dipper’s eyes until Dipper blinked and Stan backed up and stood, “Sorry kid. Just tell people where you go next time.” Stan walked out of the front door of the Shack before Dipper could come up with something to say.

  
Mabel had walked over to Dipper and was now inches from him, “Geesh what was that all about?”

  
Dipper glanced to his sister and shrugged, “Don’t know.”

  
Mabel looked over her shoulder to Soos who was currently attempting to eat his burtaco, then back to Dipper, “Is this about what happened at the puppet show?”

Dipper shuddered at the memory, “I don’t know…”

  
“You sure have been weird since then and I think Grunkle Stan is starting to notice. I mean he did say that he knows how weird this town is maybe he know about Bill-“

  
Dipper cut her off, “I don’t know Mabel maybe he does. But I… I am going to take a nap ok?”

  
Mabel nodded as she watched her twin brother slowly climb the stairs and make his way to the attic. Sure Mabel was not as observant as her brother, but she knew when something was wrong with her twin. It was twin instinct or whatever. She just knew.

~~~

Dipper returned to the attic and fell asleep almost instantly. And instantly he was dragged into another nightmare.

  
Dipper was not watching the scene unfold this time. Instead he was watching the dream like he would watch his life. He was seeing everything in first person. This was new.

  
Dipper was walking through the shack. He felt like a noodle and he was stumbling over his feet with every step that he took. His cheeks began to ache as he continued through the shack. He was smiling. It felt like the smile was plastered on his face and he would never get it off.

  
His stomach lurched as Dipper fell backwards down the stairs. He landed with a thud. Normally when something like this would happen the pain would be immense, but this time it was just like a dull ache that would eventually go away.

  
He turned a corner and he was in the living room. Dipper’s eyes scanned the room. No one was inside. He continued onward, he was in the kitchen now. He walked past the silver wear drawer and to the counter that the knife block sat on. Dipper felt his arms reach out and grab the largest knife in the block. He waved the knife lazily in front of him. Then he turned and went to the kitchen table. He sat and set the knife in front of him.

  
He sat in silence for quite sometime. He didn’t know what he was waiting for but Dipper kind of wanted the dream to move along. He wanted whatever pain was in store for to be done and over with. But nothing came. Whatever Bill wanted was not something that was going to come quickly.

  
Footsteps made Dipper’s head fly quickly to his side. Someone was coming down the stairs. Dipper reached out for the knife in front of him. As he did so Dipper could see the words carved into his arm. Dipper waited horrified for what was about to come.

  
It was Mabel. She was glancing this way and that. She was looking for something. Dipper knew that she was looking for him. He wanted to call out to her, but nothing escaped him.

  
But a voice that was not his own came from his throat as his sister was about to enter the living room, “Mabel what are you doing?”

  
Mabel jumped slightly at the voice but looked into the kitchen to find Dipper sitting there, she smiled, “Dipper there you are! I was worried. And I didn’t know what to do since Grunkle Stan not to leave you alone… I really think he is worried about you Dipper. I think he knows about what has been giving you nightmares.”

  
Mabel was rambling and Bill did not seem to have the patience for what Dipper’s sister was talking about. Bill pushed himself out of the chair and held tightly to the knife.

  
Mabel was now laughing about something but Dipper didn’t know what it was. Dipper only walked closer to her. He could feel something inside him saying that this was not going to be good but another part completely disagreed.

  
“Hey Dip…” Mabel chuckled and took a few steps backwards, “What are you doing?”

  
Dipper didn’t reply he just felt the plastered grin on his face only grow and grow. He felt his arm holding the knife rise upwards as Mabel stumbled backwards to the ground. Dipper could feel a laugh bubbling in the back of his throat. It was growing louder and louder.

  
“Dipper?” Mabel asked as she tried to scoot backwards across the floor. But it was no use. Dipper lunged forward and the knife fell downwards with him. The knife went through Mabel’s nightgown and right into her stomach. Then Dipper raised his arm again and brought the knife down again. And again. And again.

  
Blood spewed everywhere. And Dipper could feel the drops splashing in his face. Then he stopped. He let the knife fall and stared at what he had done. Somehow staring at his sisters body pale and lifeless surrounded by a pool of her blood did not shock him like it should have. He should be crying, screaming for help. But no. None of that happened. Instead he stared to his sister and felt the already enormous grin on his face continue to grow.

  
Then it felt like Dipper was getting out of the pool. Something heavy was drifting off of his body. Dipper fell backwards and then held his head between his hands. His cheeks went limp and his head spun.

  
“Nice handy work kid,” Bill’s voice echoed in front of Dipper. Dipper looked in front of him to the area just above his sister’s body. Bill was floating there staring at the boy.

  
Then Dipper realized what he had done. He looked down slowly from Bill to his motionless sister. Dipper felt something catch in the back of his throat and felt something burning in the back of his eyes. No. It wasn’t real. He didn’t do this.

  
Bill began laughing and tumbled backwards through the air. Dipper pushed himself forward and grabbed his sister. He shook her. No he didn’t do this. He didn’t. This was a dream. It had to be.

  
“MABEL WAKE UP!” Dipper shouted grabbing at his sister’s shoulders.

  
Mabel’s eyes suddenly flew open and Dipper flew backwards. But her eyes were not hers. Instead they were yellow and silted like a snake. Mabel opened her mouth but only Bill’s laughter filled the silence of the shack.

  
Dipper shook his head and began crying out to anyone, “Grunkle Stan!! SOOS! Wendy! GRUNKLE STAN! PLEASE HELP ME!”

  
Then with a jolt Dipper was awake. Dipper sat bolt upright and looked around. It was now midafternoon in the shack, light was pooling in through the window and the attic was starting to heat up from the afternoon sun. Dipper looked around, no one was up in the attic with him.

  
Without another second of hesitation Dipper looked to his arm. The words weren’t there. At least he knew for certain now that he was awake. That was it, Dipper thought to himself. If the words were on his arm he was dreaming. But that didn’t explain why they were there when he went to the bathroom the other day. Dipper shrugged and stood slowly. If only his journal had information on what to do if Bill posses you. Then and maybe then he might be able to get this to stop.

~~~

Several days later and Dipper had not had another dream where he killed his sister. But Dipper was still dreaming the same things as before. He would walk out of the window to the attic. He would find himself in the kitchen slamming his arm in the drawer. Or he would find himself outside slamming pop cans into his forehead until his forehead would start to bleed. Whatever day he had been having before was always ruined by whatever nightmare decided to haunt his mind at night.  
And it was in the several days that passed, that it started to show that these nightmares were getting to Dipper. He would not eat whatever Stan decided was suitable food for 12 year old kids. He would move his fork through the meal and maybe take a few bites before pushing his plate away. The nightmares were happening so frequently that Dipper felt like he was never getting any real sleep. The fight he had to put up in his mind seemed almost realistic, that he would wake up more exhausted than when he fell asleep. But the worst of all was how Dipper’s nightmares affected everyone around him.

  
Stan would watch as Dipper walked slowly from place to place throughout the shack not saying a word. Mabel tried telling jokes to cheer up Dipper but he would only smile weakly before looking away. And Dipper wouldn’t even try to talk to Wendy. And whenever Soos offered Dipper an activity that Dipper would never normally turn down, Dipper would shrug him off.

  
Dipper became secluded; even with someone watching him from a few feet away Dipper was always alone. Dipper would sit in the window frame of the attic and watch the world below. Dipper would sit in the living room staring at the TV when it wasn’t on. Dipper would sit in the kitchen watching Stan either burn or severely mess up every attempt at cooking. Dipper would sit behind the counter of the Store and watch the guests throw away their money for some tacky souvenir.  
Dipper stopped trying to look for answers in the journal. Dipper stopped trying to follow clues that would have led him to another discovery. Dipper simply stopped caring. And everyone watched and it hurt all of them just as much as it hurt him.

  
One day Dipper sat in the living room staring at his own reflection in the powered down TV watching as everyone else would pass by the room just to be sure he was ok when something made Dipper move. It was not the shadow that he had followed to the bathroom like before but rather it was like something was telling him to get up. Something was telling him to move. Dipper didn’t know what it was, but slowly he pushed himself off of the couch and walked slowly out of the living room. It had been a few minuets since anyone had come by to check on him but he figured that where he needed to go he wouldn’t be there long.

  
Slowly Dipper made his way up the stairs he passed the bathroom and made his way to the room in the attic. Dipper stopped in the middle of the room and looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and he half debated just going to his bed and lying there for a while. He thought about it but he didn’t want to fall asleep. He didn’t want to have to go through another excruciating nightmare.

  
Dipper was about to turn around and go down the stairs when a very familiar stinging spread across his arm. Dipper raised his arm to eye level and saw the message Pain is hilarious cut deeply into his arm. Every time that it had appeared since the first day the cut would become deeper and deeper. Dipper shook his head. He was dreaming. He had to be. That is what he told himself, when the words were there he was asleep. He was probably back in the living room. He just had to find a way to get himself up.

  
Quickly Dipper looked back around the room. But now nothing was there. Only red light flooded into the room from the triangular window. Now Dipper knew he was dreaming. Everything was gone. This isn’t what the room looked like. No. Dipper turned around to go down the stairs but somehow those had vanished too.

  
His mind racing for answers Dipper backed up scanning the rest of the room. In the corner of the room next to where the door to the stairs would be was the full-length mirror. Odd. Why was the mirror the only thing that still remained? And it was usually in the room next to the bedroom…

  
Hesitantly Dipper walked to the mirror. He half expected his reflection not to be there like before. He was shocked however to find that a copy of himself was staring back. Dipper sighed in relief. But as he stared at himself he watched in horror as slowly injuries started appearing on Dipper.

  
First it was a hand print on his cheek, Dipper felt the soft sting as a red hand print formed on his skin. Then another on the other cheek. Then Dipper felt like his head and back were being hit with baseball bats. Then his arm began to bruise and Dipper swore his bones were breaking. Then four marks appeared in each bruise and slowly started to bleed. Then more bruises appeared. More scratches. More blood dripped from Dipper’s body. And Dipper felt more aches across his entire being. Dipper felt his knees give out and he fell to the floor in front of the mirror.

  
Dipper reached for his chest and felt something warm leaking through his shirt. Blood. Dipper pulled his hand away and felt it shake as he stared at the red liquid that now covered his palm. Dipper heard laughter and his head shot up to look in the mirror.

  
Staring back at him was the slit like yellow eyes that haunted Dipper to his core. Dipper fell backwards and stared as the reflection did the same. Dipper took a shaky breath and so did the reflection. The reflection covered in bruises and bleeding scars. The reflection with yellow eyes. The reflection with the words _Pain is hilarious_ carved into it’s arm. Dipper shook his head and closed his eyes.

  
But when Dipper opened his eyes again he was staring back at the same reflection. No. This wasn’t happening. Was Bill inside him? Was he going insane? Was this real? Dipper’s eyes slowly gazed around the rest of the room. It was still empty but something was floating just over him. Dipper looked up and nearly had a heart attack.

  
Floating above him was him. He was blue in coloration and was practically see through. No Bill was inside of him. But then, if Bill was inside of him why was he seeing things through his body and not his… Soul? Dipper slowly stood and reached out to his soul. His soul did not move. It stared deadpan to the wall in front of it.

  
“Hey!” Dipper shouted. But it wasn’t his voice. It was Bill’s.

  
Dipper slammed a hand over his mouth. He heard laughing in the background of his mind again. He turned around and saw no one in the room. No one other than himself in the reflection. But as he looked into his reflection of the mirror his mouth was moving and words that Dipper was not forcing out came.

  
“Would you look at that! Now we are twins!” Bill’s voice echoed through the room.

  
“What does that mean?” Dipper asked this time, but his voice still sounded like Bills.

  
Dipper arched backwards and uncontrollable laughter erupted from within him, “You got so bad at taking care of yourself it was too easy this time to rip your soul out… But some part of you wanted to stay inside this time, so now we are like conjoined twins!”

  
Dipper felt a smile spread across his face even though he didn’t want to smile, Bill was starting to take the drivers seat and it hurt. Dipper looked up to his soul floating lazily by the ceiling, “But what about him?” Dipper asked.

  
Bill responded through Dipper, “Oh he will be fine. We don’t have to worry about him. Now that you are in here too, I won’t have to worry about taking care of you cause you will do that for me, and I can hold onto you so I don’t get ejected like last time.”

  
Dipper felt his knees give out. No this couldn’t be happening. He didn’t want this. He felt like something was clawing at his heart and his gut. It hurt. He felt something swimming in his head and was making his temples ache horribly. Bill was taking up more space inside of him. No. Get out. Dipper fell to the floor and leaned his head into the mirror.

  
But Dipper could feel something or rather Bill rejecting these movements; he was pulling on his muscles attempting to get him to stand again. He could feel everything trying to pull him out of the position that he was in. Dipper reached a hand forward and could feel something pulling it back the other way like an invisible string was attached to the wall pulling him the other direction. With every last ounce of effort Dipper reached and grabbed onto the mirror. He looked into the mirror and saw the mix of pain in his eyes and the joy in his smile.

  
“Please get out of me,” Dipper pleaded through his grin. Dipper felt his head shake from side to side, and Dipper felt tears boil in the corners of his eyes, “Please! I can’t…”

  
Dipper was cut off by his second in command, “Yes you can kid! This will be fun! Why don’t we do what you dreamed about the other night! You know physical pain isn’t the only thing that is hilarious, and boy when you killed your sister that pain took the cake. Come on let’s go do it right now!”

  
Dipper was sobbing through the smile that only grew on his face, “No please I don’t want to!”

  
Dipper was aware of the fact that he was slowly loosing more and more control of his body, his eyes turned dark red and the tears stopped, “NO WE ARE GOING NOW!” Dipper felt his body jolt upwards and Dipper now stood. But Dipper was not going anywhere without a fight. He put every bit of effort that he could into standing where he was. Even though he could feel a thousand other commands telling him to lift his feet and move he was not about to go anywhere.

  
Dipper felt another lurch in his stomach and his foot inched forward slightly, “COME on Pine Tree let’s MOVE IT!”

  
Dipper managed to get out his own two cents, “No, I am not killing my sister.”

  
Then Dipper felt his entire abdomen wrench, he was shot forcefully forward and landed in the middle of the room. Instead of speaking this time Bill’s voice echoed in Dipper’s ears, “MOVE IT KID!”

  
Dipper dug his fingers into the splintery wood of the attic, “No I am not letting you have control!” Dipper did what he could to squeeze his eyes shut and as he did it felt like the world was doing cartwheels. He felt like he was going to hurl.

  
Then a distant familiar voice filled the boy’s ears, “Dipper. Dipper kid where are you?”

  
Then another voice, “Dipper!”

  
Then footsteps and then a hand was on his shoulder. Dipper’s eyes flew open. And Dipper scrambled backwards away from whoever had just touched him. Dipper threw his arms over his face and shouted, “No stay away from me, I don’t want to hurt you!” Dipper relaxed slightly at the sound of his own voice.

  
Grunkle Stan spoke, “Dipper, uh, are you ok?” Dipper’s arms began to shake as he slowly lowered them. He was in the attic. How did he get up here? Did he actually come up here on his own free will? So was that all a dream or…

  
Mabel peaked out from around Stan and jumped forward at the sight of her brother. She ran into him and wrapped her arms around his neck, “Dipper.” It was all she said.

  
“But really kid what’s with you?” Stan asked moving closer to Dipper and setting a hand on his shoulder. Dipper looked at his Uncle. He had never seen Grunkle Stan look this concerned in his life. A thought occurred to Dipper, Stan did say that he knew about the crazy stuff going on in Gravity Falls, maybe he knew about Bill.

Maybe he could help him.

  
Dipper coughed lightly, “Hey Grunkle Stan can I ask you something?”

  
“Sure go for it,” Stan grumbled sitting down completely on the floor. Mabel finally loosened her grip around Dipper’s neck and pulled away from him.

  
“Um…” Dipper hesitated, did he really want to tell his Uncle that he had made a deal with a demon and now for some reason he was paying for it? Dipper swallowed, and opened his mouth about to speak again when the searing pain cut down his arm. Dipper retracted his arm and pulled it into himself.

  
“What?” Mabel asked her eyes growing wide as she inspected her brother, then she smiled, “Did you get a splinter?”

  
Dipper smiled weakly and spoke, “I guess… Stupid attic.”

  
Grunkle Stan smirked, “Hey you can sleep outside if you want.”

  
Mabel laughed, “Grunkle Stan you know Dipper wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

  
The pair laughed and Dipper added in his own false laughter. As his uncle and sister sat laughing Dipper looked at his arm. As he suspected the words were seared into his skin. Perfect. Now it was happening when he was awake.

~~~

Three nights went by and Dipper had the best sleep of his life. He was not haunted by any nightmares. Dipper figured that maybe whatever was happening to him before was finally over. He was never going to have to deal with those nightmares or the random pain ever again. Dipper was perfectly ok with that. Though the curious side of him did want to know why these things had been happening to him, he was happy that they were over.

  
It was after the third night that Dipper was happily eating in the kitchen that Stan spoke to Dipper. Mabel had just run off after Waddles who had attempted to eat one of her sweaters again so Dipper and Stan were alone.

  
“Dipper,” Stan stated sitting down in the chair opposite the boy with a rather stern expression on his face.

  
“Ya? Is something wrong?” Dipper felt his face heating up for some reason. He always got nervous when he thought that Stan was going to yell at him.

  
“Look kid, in the attic the other day you were going to ask me something, what was it?” Stan asked then took a long drain from his coffee.

  
Dipper felt something tickling at his arm, “Oh it’s nothing.” The tickling went away.

  
Stan raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure? You stopped eating? You wouldn’t even embarrass yourself in front of Wendy for crying out loud. I think as your Grunkle I have the right to know what was going on with you.”

  
Dipper swallowed and the tickling on his arm turned to slight searing, “Grunkle Stan… When you said you knew about the weirdness of Gravity Falls… How much did you know about?” Something was pounding in the back of Dipper’s head and he was trying his best to ignore it.

  
“Well,” Grunkle Stan chuckled a bit to himself, “Well everything that you and your sister were always hunting for, well I knew all about it all. I just didn’t want you two to get into trouble… See there is something I have to tell you- DIPPER!”

  
The pain in Dipper’s head was growing out of control and dipper felt himself fly out of the chair and land hard on the floor. Dipper’s head began swimming and his vision faded from black and white back to color. Dipper listened as his uncle shouted at him and threw his chair aside and fell to his knees down next to his nephew. Someone was laughing but Dipper and Stan were the only ones in the room.

  
Grunkle Stan spoke but to Dipper it sounded like Stan was hundreds of feet away, he couldn’t comprehend what his Uncle was saying. He stared at the man and his vision was now going in and out of focus. His arm was throbbing and he could feel something dripping down it.

  
A thought occurred to Dipper through his haze. Maybe this wasn’t real. He just had to find a way to prove that it wasn’t. Dipper just had to get Stan to look at his arm and if he didn’t see anything he would know that this was all… What was it? It would be like in the bathroom when Stan had come in. He didn’t see anything then.

  
Dipper felt himself being lifted up. Stan was taking him somewhere. But where? He heard another voice. It was probably Mabel. He heard Stan say something to her. Dipper felt Stan move again. They were going up the stairs. Why? Dipper tried to clear his eyes but nothing worked. He blinked and blinked but it was all black and white fuzz.

  
Dipper was leaning against something now. He wasn’t in Stan’s arms anymore. Stan was moving around near him. Then something cold was poured on Dipper’s head. He wanted to react but his limbs suddenly went numb. Stan was right in front of Dipper but he couldn’t see him. Stan seemed to be shouting but Dipper couldn’t hear a word. Then Stan said something else and got up.

  
Almost in an instant Dipper’s vision became clear and he could hear again. Dipper could now move. He looked around. He was in… The bathroom. Dipper slowly pushed himself up, as he did the lights went out. Dipper ran to the door and was about to call out to Stan or Mabel when the door slammed shut. Dipper felt his heart practically stop. No. It was happening again.

  
Dipper backed up and as he did he felt like he walked through ice. He froze. Dipper exhaled and listened to his heart and pulse beat through his ears. Dipper turned and then nearly fell backwards. There right in front of him was Bill.

  
“Hiya Pine Tree,” Bill stated nonchalantly and leaned into his cane.

  
“B-B-Bill!” Dipper stuttered.

  
“Geeze kid what’s up with you?” Bill laughed closing his one eye.

  
Dipper clenched his fists, “What’s wrong with me?! What’s wrong with you!? You had your puppet! We made a deal, it’s over now! Why are you still inside of me?”

  
Bill looked quizzically to Dipper, “What? I am out of you, can’t you tell. Who knew that kids actually did become dumber in this generation.”

  
Dipper raised an eyebrow and relaxed slightly, “What? You aren’t giving me nightmares?”

  
Bill laughed hysterically before speaking again, “Oh Pine Tree! Did my experience with you really scar you that badly!?”

  
“You mean that it hasn’t been you?” Dipper asked glancing from side to side. Something was off… The room wasn’t black and white…

  
“Of course not kid! Don’t you think you would know if I was really inside of you again?” As Bill asked the last question he grew and turned red, his eye right in front of Dipper’s face.

  
Dipper took a step back as Bill shrunk, Dipper spoke, “But it all seemed like something you would do. It seemed like a way you would torture me…”

  
Bill chuckled, “As much as I like torturing innocent people, I do have a code to stick to. I can’t just kill people or do serious harm to their…. Body without a deal first.”

  
“So… then what’s happening to me?” Dipper asked feeling something burn at the corners of his eyes.

  
Bill laughed again, “Wouldn’t you like to know!”

  
A loud thud and grunt made Dipper jump forward. He would have collided with the triangle except he disappeared and the lights turned back on. The door flew open and Grunkle Stan rushed in followed by a nervously shaking Mabel. Dipper looked at the two of them uncertain of what to say.

  
“Dipper!” Mabel shouted and began to run to her twin. But Grunkle Stan stopped her.

  
“Dipper,” Stan grumbled staring at his nephew, “You better tell us what is going on right now.”

  
Dipper looked hesitantly between his uncle and his sister, before clearing his throat, “You see… About a week ago,” Dipper glanced to the mirror and felt his heart stop for the second time that day. In his reflection he saw the slit like yellow eyes that haunted him. Dipper looked back to his uncle and sister who were both waiting for him to continue.

  
“Please,” Dipper stated backing up from his family he raised his arms to cover his face.

  
“Dipper! Dipper what’s wrong?!” Mabel shouted trying to get past Grunkle Stan who was still holding her back.

  
“Kid talk to us!” Stan shouted taking a step forward as Dipper continued backwards in the small bathroom. He collided with the tub and held his arms out in front of himself.

  
“No please Grunkle Stan, go away! Something is wrong with me!” As Dipper spoke Stan’s face suddenly grew with horrified concern.

  
Stan leaped away from Mabel and got down to Dipper’s level and grabbed his shoulders, “Dipper, you made a deal with him… Didn’t you?”

  
Dipper suddenly looked up to Stan and locked eyes with him. So Stan did know about Bill. Dipper felt tears boiling in his eyes, “I did… He was in my body at the puppet show. And now… Now… He won’t get out of me…”

  
Stan hesitated, “Look kid you aren’t the only one who has gone through that…”

  
“What?” Dipper and Mabel asked at the same time.

  
Stan sighed, “Well there is still a lot I need to tell you but… The just of it is, Bill… well when you ask for something he promises you one thing just so he can use you as he wants. Then if you are lucky enough to get him out of you, he kind of leaves side effects. Nightmares, illusions, the list could go on and on. You think it’s over and then it only gets worse.”

  
Mabel walked over to her uncle and set a hand on his shoulder, “How did you get rid of him then?”

  
“Well,” Stan coughed awkwardly, “I had help… But that’s beside the point… I might be able to help you before the next wave of crazy hits you.”

Dipper nodded, “What do you have to do?”

  
Stan stood and held out a hand to Dipper, “Well,” Stan paused as Dipper grabbed Stan’s hand, Stan squeezed hard onto Dipper’s hand. Dipper gasped and wanted to pull away but Stan began laughing menacingly.

  
“Grunkle Stan!” Dipper shouted and then looked to Mabel who was now laughing horrifyingly as well, “Mabel?”

  
“Oh kid!” Stan looked back down to Dipper his eyes glowing yellow, “You are never going to get out of this! EVER!” Stan’s eyes turned dark red and his grip on Dipper’s hand became increasingly painful. Dipper could swear he felt his metacarpal bones getting ready to crack.

  
“Poor little Pine Tree,” Mabel spoke her voice echoing, “Lost forever in his own mind!”

  
Dipper slammed a fist into his Uncle’s arm, trying to get him to let go of his hand; Stan laughed and spoke, “Finally standing up for yourself kid?”

  
“Stan please stop!” Dipper shouted pulling away from his Uncle. Somehow the grip on Dipper’s hand only increased. Dipper cried out as he felt the bones in his hands completely begin to shatter. Dipper fell to his knees his tears pouring out of his eyes harder and harder now.

  
Mabel spoke now and walked over to her brother, “What’s wrong Bro-bro?” Mabel reached out and grabbed onto Dipper’s shoulder. She pinched directly into the pressure point and Dipper saw stars as he screamed out.

  
“Mabel!” Dipper shouted squeezing his eyes shut. In the back of his head Dipper could hear something. It wasn’t the laughter he was used to hearing whenever he felt pain. He heard a voice. A familiar voice. But it was far away. He couldn’t make out the words. It was his sister.

  
Dipper looked up to his sister looming over him with her blaring red eyes, Dipper blinked and tears fell down his face, “You aren’t real.”

  
Mabel’s grip loosened and she stared at Dipper, “What?!” Her eyes became a darker red and she squeezed hard into the pressure point in Dipper’s shoulder again. Dipper flinched and cried out and Mabel spoke again, “Tell me that this doesn’t feel real Dipper!”

  
Dipper glared at his sister, “Yes it feels real! But this isn’t happening! I don’t know what the last thing that happened to me was, but Bill you gave it all away!”

  
Stan and Mabel looked confused to Dipper; Dipper smiled through the pain that was somehow fading slightly, “You said it yourself! I am trapped inside my own mind!”

  
Stan glared to Dipper fuming, “NO! THIS IS REALITY!” But as Stan shouted and his eyes became more and more red the bathroom slowly began to shatter. Everything was slowly turning white. Stan and Mabel both screamed in distress as they too began to shatter into thousands of little pieces. Dipper felt feeling coming back to his hand and shoulder. Then everything went sheet white.

~~~

“First I tell you not to open the portal and then you summon that damn triangle!? Are you an idiot?” A grumbling voice that Dipper didn’t recognize filled his ears. Dipper tried moving but his limbs felt like jello. Where was he? He hoped a smell or a sound would clue him in. But nothing.

  
“I know, I know. But the portal is completely different and unrelated to this! Also I didn’t summon the damn thing!” That voice Dipper recognized. It was Stan.  
Dipper tried to speak but all that came out was a bunch of grumbling. He heard rushed footsteps and felt someone touch his arm.

  
“Kid!” Stan shouted.

  
“Easy, if he made it out he is going to be exhausted,” the other voice said. The voice sounded familiar though it was like he had heard it before.

  
A third voice entered the party, “Is he waking up!? Grunkle Stans!?” It was definitely Mabel. Grunkle…Stans?

  
“I don’t know Mabel we can’t be too certain yet,” the other voice spoke again.

  
“Dipper, you with us kid?” Grunkle Stan asked lightly shaking Dipper’s arm. His arm. It stung slightly at the touch.

  
Dipper’s eyes shot open. He wasn’t out. Dipper sat upright and shouted, “No! Get away from me!”

  
As soon as Dipper sat up and shouted he regretted it. He felt like he was going to hurl. His head was spinning. Dipper fell backwards.

  
Someone caught him, “Easy kiddo.” It was that other voice. Dipper looked to his side and saw a man that looked remarkably like Grunkle Stan standing there. It was like Stan had got in that copy machine and made a duplicate of himself.

  
Dipper spoke and his voice was scratchy, “Who?...” It was all he got out because he felt like he was either going to vomit or pass out.

  
This man looked from Dipper over to the other side of the bed where Dipper assumed Stan was. Slowly the man set Dipper back. As he did Dipper realized he was in a bed. He was in a room he didn’t recognize. Was this a hospital? Was he in a hospital?

  
Stan spoke and Dipper slowly turned his head to him, “Dipper don’t you remember? This is my brother, the author of the journal you had your head in almost all summer…”

  
Dipper tried to recall his last memories… He remembered going to look for McGucket’s memories, he had some recollection of Blendin coming back, when he wore that stupid v-neck and then going to the Northwest Mansion. He helped Pacifica, then what happened?

  
“I remember going to the Northwest Mansion… that is the last thing I remember…” Dipper stated looking at Stan and watching as his expression became more depressed. Stan looked across the bed over to his brother.

  
Mabel came over and hopped on the end of the hospital bed, “You turned to wood.”

  
“What?” Dipper asked staring at his sister. Not exactly ready for her crazy jokes right now.

  
Mabel shrugged, “You had been having nightmares then you went to the mansion and then you started acting weird after you turned to wood. A day or so later Grunkle Stan almost got arrested we met our other Grunkle and then you went really crazy… You kind of just wandered around and would shout at things and you were hurting yourself… But Grunkle Stanley helped and we brought you here. We tried to get in your head like we did with Grunkle Stan but that didn’t work… So we just have been taking turns talking to you, it seemed to have helped cause your back.”

  
Dipper stared at his sister, “How long ago was the party at the mansion?”

  
Stan answered, “It was almost two weeks ago…”

  
“Two weeks?” Dipper asked bewildered.

  
“Ya, you have been in and out of reality since then…” Stanley, apparently that was his name, stated softly.

  
“I don’t even know what happened, what was going on then? Everything I saw since then… It was all mixed up,” Dipper was becoming more confused than he would have liked.

  
Stanley answered, “Bill was in you before, Mabel told us. When he posses someone he tends to leave behind a little bit of himself… Memories that can manifest into something dangerous if the person lets them. Your nightmares became realistic and you would wake up in a half dream state making you slowly loose your grip on reality, because the scenarios would continue to play even though you had woken up. Then it became very bad for you and you got lost inside of yourself trying to wake up and that is when we brought you here. There was no way we would have been able to keep you alive at the shack. You had days where we thought you were going to get out but you just seemed to fall deeper inside.”

  
“But if I was still conscious and going through life for a little bit, when you showed up,” Dipper pointed to Stanley, “How do I not remember any of that?”

  
The brothers looked between each other, Stan spoke, “We aren’t exactly sure kid… We think that maybe Bill may have actually gotten in you again while you were starting to go loopy, maybe a part of you was inside but Bill was in there too… But he’s out now so…”

  
Dipper nodded, “I hope so.”

  
Mabel crawled up the bed and lay down next to her brother wrapping her arms around his neck, “Don’t worry bro-bro, I won’t let this happen to you again.”  
Dipper smiled weakly, “Thanks Mabel, I promise I won’t make stupid deals with Bill again so that this doesn’t happen again.”

  
Stan smiled, “Alright you better not kid, this was an experience that I didn’t really need in my life again… Ok I am going to see if we can get the heck out of here. I hate hospitals they only remind me of how much I don’t want to have to die here.”

  
Mabel chuckled, “You won’t die in a hospital Grunkle Stan.”

  
“No I will probably kill him before he get’s the chance to spend any time in a hospital,” Stanley teased.

  
“Geesh, with that again,” Stan rolled his eyes as he made his way out of the room.

  
Stanley tapped Mabel on the shoulder, “Come on Mabel we should let your brother get a little bit of real sleep for a few hours. I am sure he needs it.”

  
Mabel strangle hugged Dipper’s neck for a second before letting go, “Ok really don’t do anything stupid Dipper.”

  
Dipper laughed, “Oh I promise.”

  
Dipper watched as his other Grunkle and Mabel walked out of his room and slowly shut the door. Then Dipper stretched out and rolled to his side. He felt something tug at his arm. He glanced to an IV stuck in his elbow. That must have been the stinging earlier. Dipper sighed in relief. He was finally back to normal. It was all just some horrible side effect of being possessed and thrown out of his body. It was all a nightmare. And it was finally over.

  
Dipper began drifting off to sleep. Stan convinced the nurses to discharge his nephew. Mabel texted everyone she knew that her brother was ok. Stanley gave Stan crap the entire time they waited for Dipper’s discharge papers about the portal being opened. And Dipper slept. But no one noticed in their hustle and bustle about the hospital room, the scar that was fading on Dipper’s skin. It was only three words and 15 letters long. But just below his IV those three words marked Dipper’s skin.

_Pain is hilarious_

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think!? 
> 
> I just recently got into this fandom and this idea just popped into my head after watching Sock Opera. I love the idea of schizophrenia and psychosis and I do like stories that involve demons and stuff... So ya! haha maybe I will write more GF stuff if you guys liked this...
> 
> Please feel free to point out any errors if you notice any!


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